Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-09-16
The signs OF the Times.

Several recent occurrences of political
significance have done good work in call
ing the attention of Republicans to the actu
al political situation and to the conditions
on which efforts for the success of the Re
publican party in next years canvass must
be based. The two most important Of these
have been, first, the strong, comprehensive,
and every-way admirable platform adopted
by the Iowa Republicans, coupled with the
enthusiastic home feeling which was shown
for Senator Allison and, second, the in
terview with ex-Secretary Robert 7. Lin
coin, in which, while earnestly disclaiming
any wish or ambition for the presidential
office, he laid down several strong and ex-
plcit points of political doctrine. The sa-
lent feature of the Iowa platform was that
which declared unequivocally for 1.-THE
maintenance and improvement of the civil
service law enacted by the Republican par
ty," supplemented by the broad and com
prehensive declaration that The sole test
of an incumbent of Office or applicant for a
place in the civil service of the govern
ment should be honesty, competency and
fdelity-with the single exception that
when all other qualifications are equal, the
Union soldier shall have the preference"
This is a declaration, as we have hereto
fore taken occasion to say which sums up
the whole doctrine of civil service reform
in a sentence. Mr.. Lincoln, in his inter
view, did not touch specifically on the
question of reform but the whole tenor of
his remarks was in accord with the thought
of the progressive, onward looking element
of the Republican party, and it unmistak-
ably met Il cordial response in the popular
heart.
The situation which the Republican par
ty must meet next year is such an one as
has never before been presented, and if the
party would win this situation must be met
squarely and honestly, Mr.. Cleveland was
elected President three years ago because a
large element of the independent, think
ing voters of the country believed that in
his own person he stood for the principle
of reform in the administration of the civ
il-service of the government, and these
men thought he would he strong enough to
put this principle in practice in spite of the
parry Alills MI AltNtldil lliAl hutl
an opportunity as no man ever had TO full
i'll his pledges, carry out his promised re
forms, and stand like bulwark against
the bowling mob of spoismen and traders
in the government patronage, But he
has not been able To do this With inten-
tions which we believe were honest and
sincere he has been gradually crowded off
- To- h.. L., l.. &
the spoils of Office Little by little, though
slowly at first, the ground has been gained,
and instead of stopping at the ''equilibri-
UNI" of office holders between the two par
ties, which was so much talked about in
the beginning, "clean sweep of the of
fees outside the civil service rules has prac-
tically been made. Vermont is not alone
in being given over TO boss rule, and in
some cases, as in that of Maryland, the of
fence has grown so rank that even the
most jealous of the mugwump "reformers
cry out against it. In short, in spite of
many things promised and attempted, and
some of them accomplished, genuine civil
service reform is anything but a reality-it
is "A sham and II -word-under Demo
cratic administration, with Democratic
party behind the Executive.
But because this is 50 it does not follow
that the Republican party can succeed next
year no matter who is nominated or what
the platform is. 1t is as certain as any
such future event can be that Mr. Cleve-
land will be renominated by the Democrats,
and the reformers who supported him be-
fore, and will therefore have personal
motive for supporting him again, will urge,
as they now do, that, in spite of the clean
sweep which has been made of the minor
and general offices in the country, Mr.
Cleveland has held by the letter of the civil
service law in places 10 which it applies
they will claim, and with truth, that he
has held subordinates up TO u nominal sup